Geniza Lab

Dowry list for the marriage of Jamila bt. Meir and Netanel b. Moshe. The early marriage gift is 10 dinars. Dated: 1169 CE.

Narrow bifolio. One page: Legal record in Judaeo-Arabic written and signed by Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen. Dated: Adar 1451 Seleucid, which is 1140 CE. Involving a debt of 30 dinars owed by Abū l-Munā b. Yehuda to Abū l-Ḥasan b. Abū l-Namir(?). Bishr b. Hārūn al-Ruqūqī stood security for him. It seems that the debtor ran away and hid. The brother of Abū l-Munā, Abū ʿAlī b. Yehuda is also mentioned. The remaining three pages: Accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Marriage contract (ketubba). On parchment. Location: New Cairo. Dated: [Thursday,] 15 Kislev 1461 Seleucid, which is 17 November 1149 CE, under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Groom: Merayot b. Ṣadaqa. Bride: ʿAmāʾim bt. Tiqva. (The only name preserved on recto is Tiqva; the rest come from the record on verso.) On verso there is a legal record (written after the divorce) certifying that ʿAmāʾim has received the 5 dinars of the delayed marriage payment “specified in this ketubba.” This interpretation is tentative owing to the state of the document and the fact that Goitein seems to have understood the payment as maintenance for nursing/rearing a child for 5 months. (But note also that the poor state of the previous PGP transcription suggests that the fragment was even more crumpled when Goitein examined it than it is now.) Also on verso, there are four undeciphered lines in Arabic script. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Legal statement, signed by Nethanel b. Moshe and Shemuel b. Saadya ha-Levi, who is also the scribe, concerning a lawsuit regarding a house. One of the parties 'had had a writ drawn up according to Islamic law, which benefited him. Dated Tammuz 1477/ June 1166

Ketubba in a very nice large script, written on vellum, probably late. the bride named Hara. The groom father name is Dunash. Also mentioned Efraim ibn al-Hurmil

Marriage contract (ketubba). Qaraite. Groom: Ṣedaqa. Location: Fustat(?). Dating: 1020–30s(?). Witnesses: Avraham b. Khalaf ha-Kohen; Netanʾel b. Revaḥ/Rawḥ ha-Levi; Barakāt b. Mubārak; Hiba b. Yosef; Avraham b. Musallam (possibly the scribe of the document); Levi b. Yaʿaqov ha-Levi. On verso there are writing exercises in Arabic script (the beginnings of drafts of letters).

Ketubba of Elazar and Sitt al-Sada b. Adiyya, dated 1155–56.

Query addressed to R. Yosef 'the Rav' concerning a case of inheritance. Headed by the unusual בשמ רחמ וחנינא. Involves several brothers, one minor. Quite damaged. (Information from Goitein's index cards.)

Legal query to Avraham Maimonides about a trader who travelled to Bilād al-Hind, remained there for fifteen years, and reportedly drowned in Fanṣūr, a Sumatran port famous for exporting camphor (Heyd, Commerce du Levant, ii, 592). The question facing Maimonides was whether or not this woman was allowed to re-marry based on the testimony of the Jewish trader who reported the merchant’s death upon his return from Aden. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Traders, via Nathaniel Moses) Old IB number: 233. New IB number: VII, 33

Recto: Court record. Location: Fustat. Dated: Monday 26 Ḥeshvan 1403 Seleucid, which is 1091 CE, under the authority of the Nasi David b. Daniel. Describing the procedure of the divorce process and the settlement between Yequtiel b. Moshe (the representative of the merchants) and Munā bt. Shemuel b. Naḥum. Probably a draft—messy writing and no signatures.

Verso: Bill of sale for a slave. Incomplete and unsigned. Dated: Monday 26 Ḥeshvan 1403 Seleucid, which is 1091 CE. Seller: Meshullam b. Hiba known as Ibn al-Shuwaykiyya (cf. T-S 20.30 and the cluster of related documents). Buyer: Moshe b. Ghālib ha-Kohen. Slave: a woman named Kitmān, born into slavery (muwallada). Price: 25 dinars.

Legal document. In Hebrew. Location: Fustat. Dated: [12]91 Seleucid, which is 979/80 CE. Settlement of a marital dispute between Shelomo b. Yeshuʿa ha-Levi and Sittāna bt. Ah[aron]. The dispute evidently arose on account of lack of offspring. They went to the court intending to divorce, but they ended up settling. The main outcome has to do with Sittāna's burial expenses should she die before her husband. According to Jewish law, burial expenses are incumbent on the husband if he outlives his wife; in exchange, he inherits her property. (Whereas if he dies first, it is the wife's family who buries her and inherits her property.) In the present document, Shelomo commits to this obligation and, moreover, to bury her in the same quality of clothing that she has been accustomed to wear ("with which I clothed her") in her lifetime. To this end, the document lists the kinds of clothes she wears. Witnesses: the scribe [...] b. Shemuel ha-Kohen; Fashshāṭ b. Shemuel (who also signed T-S 16.49 and T-S 12.496); and Baqāʾ b. Mevasser (who also signed T-S 12.161, ENA 4010.10, and apparently also T-S 16.49). (Information from Friedman, Polygyny.)

Legal dispute between Abu Nasr b. Efrayim 'known as Kathir the Gazaite' and his brother Abu Ishaq. The object of litigation: some household goods and dirhams inherited from the brothers' mother. Dated Tammuz 1443/ July 1132. Verso: deed of sale of half of a house. Dated 1132/1133. Lines 2&3 of verso are continuation of recto. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 436). On verso another court record titled 'Wuhsha's daughter' concerning the sale of a house in Qasr al-Sham' to Sitt Ghazal b. Siba' b. Yehuda al-Damashqi the wife od Avraham Hakohen b.al-Tuwan. (Written by Halfon b. Menashshe Haelvi. AA)

Legal deed, not completed. In the hand of Natan b. Shemuel. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1155 Seleucid, which is 1143/44 CE, under the authority of Yehoshua (b. Dosa). This is the only example of a reshut formula for this otherwise unknown figure. The deed probably is a deed of gift from a father to his daughter. See M. A. Friedman's article on Zuta, pp. 477–78.

Deed of sale of quarter of a house. Written by Nathan b. Shemuʾel.

Quittance (bottom part only) signed by Eliya b. Zekharya and Elazar b. Avraham

Lower fragment: Legal document. Location: Tinnīs ("the island of Ḥanes"). Dated: Tuesday, 8 Ṭevet 4861 AM, which is 11 December 1100 CE. Ṭayyib b. Faraj known as Ibn Qaysarānī acknowledges receipt of 26 dinars from Mukhtār b. Shela, of which 8 belonged to Mukhtār and 18 to Mubārak b. Ibrāhīm b. Ayyūb. The rest is torn away. Verso: Official note of some kind in Arabic script. "The slave of... my master the noble qāḍī Abū l-Ḥusayn Aḥmad b. ʿAlī al-[...]." (There are also Hebrew pen trials on verso.) Needs examination.

This shelfmark includes 3 unrelated fragments. Bottom fragment: Validation of a legal document. Signed by [...] b. Avraham, Ḥiyya b. Yiṣḥaq, and Efrayim b. Meshullam. None of the main document is preserved.

This shelfmark includes 3 unrelated fragments. Upper right fragment, recto: Bottom left corner of a letter in Hebrew sent from the community of Aleppo (צובה) to another community. In Hebrew. Mentions Efrayim, a dignitary (sar) named Abū Manṣūr ha-Gizbar ("the treasurer"), [...] ha-Kohen b. Ṭoviyya. Upper right fragment, verso: Agreement between [...] b. Abī Qida (? קדה) and Mukhtār b. Bushayr concerning a load of brazilwood (baqqam) that is worth over 1000 (dinars?). They will split (profits?) equally.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. On parchment. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1441 Seleucid, which is 1129/30 CE, under the authority of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon. The case involves a gift, Sitt al-Karam, Abū l-Munajjā, and a female slave named Rasm.